Tuesday, July 30, 2013

I can appreciate the cosplayers that do it well but I feel obligated to share my feelings on those poor misguided souls that try and fail miserably, not the ones who intentionally fail, but those who honestly think they're doing it right.Below is a collection of cosplayers....some doing it right, some not.Here's some common sense rules to steer potential future cosplayers in the right direction.1. Is your character physically fit? Are you physically fit?2. Are you even slightly attractive? If your not perhaps a character with a mask is a good choice.3. Do you have a thorough knowledge of your character you plan to Cosplay? Outfit, hairstyle, hair color, personality etc.4. Is your character female? Are you?5. Is your character old/young? Are you?6. Can you operate a sewing machine?7. Do you have any fashion sense at all?8. Do you know someone skilled at applying cosmetics?9. Do you know a skilled hair stylist?10. Do you realize there is a difference between Halloween costumes and cosplay?11. Be prepared to be ridiculed on the interwebs for all eternity if you suck

Needless to say some people were not very happy with my opinion....so be it, everyone's entitled to their opinion.
After seeing some of the AMAZING cosplay from this years SDCC it appears more people are doing it right and thus cosplay is garnering more attention from the public.
So if you've had enough of Sharks + other sea creatures/natural disasters SYFY is actually got a show that somehow TLC missed out on!Heroes of Cosplay

The series follows cosplayers of all levels, from legend Yaya Han, to rising stars and newbies, as they make a splash at comic book conventions around the country. The series will dive deep into their lives, following their process as they create extravagant and visually arresting costumes each week. These nine constantly defy odds and race against the clock to transform themselves into amazing fictional characters that push the boundaries between fantasy and reality, all in hopes of impressing the convention judges to win a cash prizes and take their cosplay stardom to new heights.The Heroes of Cosplay cast bring to life a variety of fictional characters but the pressure each one faces and the drama that ensues is very real. The cast includes:Yaya Han – Yaya is one of the acknowledged legends of cosplay whose entrance at each convention – always in full costume – never fails to create a stir. A source of inspiration and intimidation to the contestants, Atlanta-based Yaya Han is often a judge at contests.Riki LeCotey – Riki moved from rural Canada to the United States to follow her passion for cosplay. A special effects technician on sci-fi films, she is also the founder of Cosplay for a Cause, which has raised money for victims of the Japanese Tsunami.Monika Lee – Monika is from Atlanta and a student at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she’s majoring in industrial design. A cosplayer since the age of 13, she's competed in numerous craftsmanship contests winning several “Best in Shows” and various other awards.Victoria Schmidt – Victoria is co-founder of the geek fashion and style blog settostunning.com. A passionate fan of cosplay since high school, she’s especially proud of being Princess Leia on LucasFilm’s Star Wars float in the 2007 Rose Parade.Chloe Dykstra was almost fated to be in the cosplay community; her father is an F/X legend, having worked on the original Star Wars and Star Trek films. An actress and model, she hosts theJust Cos show on YouTube’s Nerdist channel.Jessica Merizan and Holly Conrad - Jessica has performed in regional theater in Southern California since she was five years old. Together, she and fellow cast member Holly Conrad co-founded a costume fabrication shop, cosplay community and new media entertainment company.Holly was mentored by her very qualified grandfather, Dorse Lanpher, an F/X animator for Disney and others. She now works in the special effects business for several major studios, in addition to her business with Jessica.Becky Young – Becky has created costumes since attending San Diego Comic-Con in 2006. A trained actress, she has voiced Video Game Nussie on Maxim Radio and was a judge on CBS Sports’ Guitar Hero Competiton show. She lives in Burbank.Jesse Lagers – Jesse lives in Portland, Oregon, where he works as a software systems administrator. He hopes that success in cosplay competitions will lead to his own business creating costumes and props. Jesse is a stickler for realism and authenticity in all of the costumes he creates.Heroes of Cosplay premieres on Tuesday, August 13 at 10:30 PM/9:30c following the special 90-minute Season 5 premiere of Face Off. It then moves to its regular time – 10/9c on Tuesdays - starting on August 20th.

Monday, July 29, 2013

Keanu.....KEANU!!!!You were Neo...what has happened to you??? This garbage is beneath you! Rise from the ashes of Reloaded and Revolutions and go talk to Kathleen Kennedy!
Jedi looks good on you!
This movie will be on Redbox 1 month after release or I ain't the oracle!

Saturday, July 27, 2013

So where did we leave off?? Predaking is blown out an air duct on the Nemesis by Megatron, Ratchet drops the cloaking device on the Nemesis and the Autobot's bridge aboard the Nemesis in a last ditch effort to stop Megatron and the Decepticons from Ccyberforming Erf...
This episode was balls to the wall action from 00:01, and personally I really enjoyed it but I feel an additional 30 minutes would have benefitted the series finale. It felt very rushed in some parts and overdrawn in others.
The highlights for me were:

Watching Bumblebee take three to the chest from Megatron while trying to get the Star Sabre to Prime

Megatrons death

BB's death scene was a bit over dramatic considering what happens moments later, but Megatrons death was awesome....and I'm sure we haven't seen the last of him! We all know there's a very VERY good chance we'll see the G man in the sequel series. Hope we get news about that sooner rather than later.
So where does that leave us?

Cybertron is reborn

Soundwave is trapped in the Shadow Zone

Airachnid has become a terrorcon on one of the moons of Cybertron

Megatron is no longer functional

Shockwave and Starscream escape the nemesis together over Cybertron. Shockwave as the complete formula for cybermatter....

Predaking is alive and on Cyberton

Knockout apparently has left the Decepticons, surrendered to the Autobots.

Team Prime has returned to Cybertron minus Ratchet

Bumblebee has regained the power of speach (why doesn't Ultra Magnus stick his gimp hand in the pool of Cybermatter?)

Miko, Raf and Jack become special consultants for "Unit E"

All in all TFP has been an excellent series taking all the franchise's cannon from multiple series and creating IN MY OPINION the best series to date for fans old and new!
Don't waste your hard earned money on seeing TF4, take that money and go buy this series on Blu Ray...it's money better spent!

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Here's the video from SDCC from Joey Ansah revealing that filming has begun on Street Fighter Assassin's Fist!
The video shows off Akuma's Cave, as well as some other locations that we will see in the films.
We also get a glimpse at the wardrobe design and the physical training the actors are going through for the films.
I am very excited to see the first trailer!
Like they say in the video, this is going to be what fans have been wanting, but Hollywood just doesn't seem to be able to do. I know many people hear "Street Fighter movie" and immediately associate with the JCVD or more recent Kristen Kreuk celluloid nightmares, I have faith that Joey Ansah and the entire team behind this project is gonna absolutely knock this out of the park!

Saturday, July 20, 2013

So Ratchet completes the Synth En formula with the aid of Shockwave and Knockout who accidentally lets it slip that the con's let the autobots find and destroy the Predacon lab.
Raf launches his makeshift drone and Jet Optimus follows it in hopes of discovering the locatio n of the nemesis and rescuing Ratchet.
Starscream and the armada are sent out to destroy the drone when he discovers Prime, The armada engage Prime while Starscream destroys Raf's drone.
Meanwhile Ratchet attempts to escape only to be caught by Megatron and then thrown to Predaking to be terminated, Predaking basically tosses Ratchet around like a killer whale does to a sea lion pup.
But Ratchet reveals that Megatron orchestrated the whole thing, Predaking doubting Ratchet is told to search his feelings...he knows it to be true. Ok maybe not that but Predaking follows his thoughts thru to conclusion and then goes ape shit on the nemesis destroying every thing in his way...

One thing is clear Megatron owes Starscream his spark!
Oh yeah and the Autobots mobilize after ratchet drops the Nemesis' cloaking....
This coming Friday is the series finale Deadlock which I'm kinda bummed about, this was a fantastic series that brought me back to the kid in me who rushed home to watch G1 after school!
I'm excited to see what's next!
I predict Predaking will show up and kill Megatron and something happens to Prime but Grimlock is introduced and assumes leadership of the Autobots while Predaking takes command of the Decepticons and this is where the new series begins.....just a blind hunch.

I just saw Man of Steel for the second time and now that the wow factor is behind me I came to the realization that Jor El and Zod both have the same plan to ensure that the Kryptonian race doesn't go extinct! Zod kinda tells the audience during his conversation with Kal how he was Krypon's military leader and Kal's father, a leading scientist (in kickassology) both knew Krypton was doomed and both sough ways to save their race.

Zod goes the military route via direct military attack with superior tech...Jor El via panspermia. Two thirds of the way through the movie we discover that Kal El has all of krypton's "future" in his DNA via the codex, his gene's are superior to humanities! So through reproduction with humans Krypton will be reborn on Earth!
There are other things I didn't notice the first time that I noticed this time like When Zod makes first contact Clark is in the kitchen drinking a beer while a football game is playing on TV behind him, it's also dark outside so lets figure it's between 9 and 10PM in Smallville Kansas (Central Time Zone), which means it's between 8 and 9 PM in Metropolis (NYC), ok first why is the daily planet office packed like it's the middle of the day? It's also summer time, why is it dark at 8 or 9 PM in Metropolis in the summer? And on top of that how is it also dark Japan, China, Tibet or where ever it is when Zod makes first contact.
The only other issue I have with Man of Steel is after the destruction of Zod's ship, Metropolis looks like Europe after WWII....it's totally FUBAR! Then Supes and Zod go mano a mano and destroy even more of Metropolis! Than minutes after Supes snaps Zods neck we see Clark walking into the Daily Planet and being intoduced to Lois Lane! HOLY SHIT how long did it take to get the Freedom Tower project completed????
And throughout the final battle there is more 9/11 references than I could shake an I-beam at!

Aside from those few issues I still really enjoyed Man of Steel, it was infinately better than Superman Returns and has set itself nicely for the inevitble sequel! The Richard Donner Superman still remains my #1 favorite super hero movie of all time.
One last note, it might just be my imagination but the scene where Superman flies up towards the World Engine I swear it looks like they comp'd Christopher Reeves face over Henry Cavil's, which I really don't have an issue with, if they did. Christopher Reeves Superman is iconic and by doing that I see it as a high form of respect for his work.

It's been awhile since I've heard any news on the Street Fighter Assassin's Fist Movie project. I thought we might have gotten some news at EVO or SDCC, and alas I received an update yesterday!
Filming began July 14th and there are some casting updates also!

Hal Yamanouchi joined the project at the last minute, Hal Yamanouchi is in the upcoming Wolverine movie....

And the role of Ken Masters father will now be played by Mark Killeen, some of you may recognize Mark as Mero from Game of Thrones. The role was previously held by Kyle Pryor but due to scheduling conflicts he had to leave the project.

Monday, July 15, 2013

So it wasn't Super Street Fighter IV AE ver 2013/2014, it wasn't Hyper Street Fighter IV, it was much more obvious than that!
For those who are slightly disapointed with the Ctrl C, ctrl V job...lets remember SFIV came out in 2009! There is no other game this generation that has had the longevity and support tat this game has! Obviously they didn't have to make USFIV, but I appreciate the fact that they did...I'm fairly certain most SFIV resources have been reallocated to next gen projects, so thank you Capcom.
As a fan of the franchise since the original SF I'm looking forward to Ultra Street Fighter IV and eventually SF V!
The one thing I was hoping along with the USFIV announcement was some news on the Street Fighter Assasins Fist project...alas nothing.

Also maybe it was just me but the stream died on my phone last night during the UMVC3 grand finals between Justin Wong and EMP Flocker during the second set when it was 2-1 Flocker! I lost it and ran to the computer that the wife was on and jumped onto the stream only to see Alex Vaille getting a commemorative trophy FFFFFFFFFUUUUU!!!!!!
Can someone tell me what happened?
I stayed up to watch the trailer for USFIV then passed out....getting up for work at 4:45 am SUCKS!
Kinda pissed I didn't get to watch any of the SSFIV finals!
Updates on that would also be much appreciated!....Mike I'm looking at you ;)
So you got Sonia to watch EVO!? Very cool!
D was like your all NERDS!
Can't wait till EVO gets televised on ESPN or some shit one day!
C'mon they have poker tourney and billiards! ESports is coming folks! Mark my words.

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Once again I was away on vacation so I couldn't give a recap for Minus One but after seeing Persuasion the two episodes almost feel like two halves of a whole.
So Starscream's devious plan worked and Megatron doesn't need to worry about a Predacon Army uprising....but he obviously feels like Predaking is a thorn in his side! And we all know Megs doesn't want anyone but him claiming Optimus Prime's head!

So after Magnus and Wheel Jack destroy Shockwave's lab by blowing up the Synth En Shockwave discovers the combination of Predacon CNA and Synth En created raw cyber matter....the stuff Cybertron is made of!
Hark! A new way to rebuild the Omega Lock and revive Cybertron!...And Cyberform Erf!
There was an interesting little conversation between Shockwave and Megatron regarding cyberforming Earth...two halves of a whole Earth & Cyberton....Primus & Unicron....this little nugget could be some terrific foreshadowing for things to come I hope! It's a shame the series is coming to an end in 2 episodes!
So the cons go on a scavenger hunt to grab some military hardware (human tech is apparently far more advanced than we realize!)
But Soundwave gets shot down by Optimus while creating a diversion and is brought back to the Autobot base for interrogation...that doesn't go very well as Soundwave reminds them he is superior and they are inferior, then proceeds to delete all his files and make himself crash.....like a boss!

Megatron freaks when hears that Soundwave has been captured by the autobots but they shoehorn in a cockamamie idea to have Laserbeak track Sound Wave's position.
So Agent Fowler warns the Autobots that the Cons are trying to steal more human tech so Prime rallies the team and they role out leaving Ratchet, Arcee, and Bulkhead alone with Sound Wave..laserbeak infiltrates their base and sucessfully powers up Soundwave and he swiftly dispatches the Autobots and captures Ratchet.
Episode 63 Persuasion is an interesting episode where Shockwave uses a cortical psychic patch to get the formula from Ratchet, but they discover he himself never finished his work, so it's up to Megatron to convince Optimus Prime's "old friend" to complete his work to revive Cybertron. Ratchet initially refuses but after Megatron tempts him with all sorts of Decepticon Engineering goodies, Ratchet finally breaks down and agrees to continue research on the Synth En formula.Now the thing that I am wondering is....was the entire episode inside Ratchets mind? Megatron kept chipping away at Ratchets refusal by tempting him with the toys he was most fascinated with....was it all a Decepticon Inception!?